Friday, June 1, 2012

Interview: The Chicharones Talk 2012 Warped Tour and "Swine Flew"

Yahoo! Voices Interview: The Chicharones Talk 2012 Warped Tour and "Swine Flew," Written by: Karen Benardello
Music groups today are faced with not only creating an image and albums that are infused with their own unique personalities, but with memorable and creative lyrics and instrumentals as well. The underground pop/rap/indie group, The Chicharones, is one such duo that uses humor and harmony to create something new.
The Chicharones is preparing for its first major appearance at The Warped Tour this year, starting on June 16 at the Utah State Fairpark in Salt Lake City. The tour coincides with the release of its new album, "Swine Flew," which will be released on June 19. Using five-part harmonies and speed raps during their set at The Warped Tour, The Chicharones, which is comprised of veteran performers Josh Martinez and Sleep, is raising the bar on what live performance can be.
Martinez and Sleep generously took the time to discuss over the phone why they decided to play in this year's Warped Tour. They also spoke about their influences, including the Beach Boys and the Beatles, and what fans can expect to hear on "Swine Flew."
Q: You'll be touring nationwide this summer as part of the 2012 Warped Tour. Why did you decide to play in the tour?
Josh Martinez (JM): I think it's just been a great coincidence that we ended up booking this tour when we're trying to release the album. The album comes out June 19, so we wanted to be able to tour as much as possible when it came out. Warped Tour is 43 dates, and is as excellent of an opportunity as we can get for this.
Sleep (S): Yeah, we got a toast from our friend Fritz from the Bring It Back stage back to the hip-hop stage on the Warped Tour. We started reconnecting-we've known each other for a little over 10 years now. He thought it would be a good fit for The Chicharones to come on the Warped Tour and headline the hip-hop stage.
His main reasoning for it was that he wanted to help people who help people. He said he's been watching us for the past 10 years, and likes how we're community-based, and like to help the people around us. He wanted to help us and return the favor. So we had the opportunity, and it was great that we could drop the record at the same time. It really works well that way.
Q: You'll be touring alongside such groups as The Used, Anti-Flag, Rise Against, Champagne Champagne and Machine Gun Kelly on the Warped Tour. Are there any particular artists that you're most looking forward to touring and playing with?
S: Anti-Flag is definitely one of them.
JM: Yeah, there are a lot of interesting groups on there, definitely outside of our genre. Some are bigger, and some are smaller. I think we look forward more than anything to seeing how the other acts perform live, and act as people. That always makes a big difference for me. As far as artists go, I like to see them perform live, and how they interact with other people and fans, just to see what kind of people they are-if they're nice people, or if they're spoiled kids, or whatever.
S: Champagne Champagne is from Seattle, and we're interested in checking them out. We've heard a lot about them, and got to hear some of their music. We got to see them perform live, so I'm looking forward to seeing them. I know Josh is, too.
Q: Are you both fans of the Warped Tour-have you seen it live before?
S: Yeah, we've played it before as well, in 2003, 2004 and 2005, in five to ten day increments, not the whole thing. Neither of us went as kids, it never really came to either of our areas.
JM: But we've got to see Billy Idol perform live, that was incredible. We're fans of music in general, so any platform where there are awesome musicians, you will find us there, for sure.
To continue reading this interview, please click here.